1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel composition for inhibiting body odor, and more particularly, to a composition for inhibiting body odor which comprises trehalose and/or maltitol as an effective ingredient, and uses thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As an increased concerning on deodorization of body odor such as smell of sweat, breath odor, and armpit odor, the demand for etiquette products for inhibiting body odor is being increased in these days. It has been revealed that the formation of body odor is influenced by diseases, body conditions, genetic constitutions, and lifestyles such as meals, smoking, and frequency of bathing. The research for substances causative of body odor has been proceeded recently and confirmed that volatile aldehydes, formed from higher fatty-acids secreted from living bodies and ester derivatives thereof, are the main substances causative of body odor. In addition to the above body odor, it is being pointed out the existence of body odor specific to middle and senior generations, i.e., ageing odor, induced by ageing. For example, in xe2x80x9cFragrance Journalxe2x80x9d, pp. 42-46, September, 1999, and Japanese Patent Kokai No. 286,428/99, a body odor specific to these generations is named xe2x80x9cKAREI-SHUxe2x80x9d (throughout the specification, the specific body-odor of the middle and senior generations is referred to as xe2x80x9cKAREI-SHUxe2x80x9d hereinafter) and the formation of xe2x80x9cKAREI-SHUxe2x80x9d deeply relates to substances having unsaturated groups such as 2-nonenal and 2-octenal, as a kind of volatile aldehyde, formed from 9-hexadecenoic acid which is found in an increased amount in the sebum of human middle and senior generations. In addition to the above body-odor, the demand for deodorization of body odor of animals such as pets and livestocks are also increased similarly as in humans, and the measure thereof has been being researched.
As a result, at present, the measure for human and animal body-odor has been practiced from various aspects. Theoretical classification thereof is as follows: (1) Masking body-odor using a flavor ingredient, (2) physically absorbing ingredients of body odor or the precursors thereof to inhibit the dispersion of the ingredients, and (3) inhibiting the formation per se of the ingredients of body odor from precursors thereof.
The method (1) could not be a substantial solution because it does not inhibit the formation of body odor per se and may form a new odor, which is not necessarily be a satisfactory smell, due to the coexistence of the problematic body-odor and the flavor ingredient. Representative examples of the method (2) are, for example, a method for inhibiting the dispersion of ingredients of body odor by using the inclusion- and absorption-abilities of cyclodextrins, activated charcoals, etc. The method using cyclodextrins could not be a substantial solution because the ingredients of body odor, once included by cyclodextrins, may be re-released by the coexisting other substances, while the method using activated charcoals could not necessarily be effective because it could hardly exert a desired instant effect and has a limitation of direct application to living bodies. Representative examples of the method (3) include those which use antioxidants and antibacterial substances. Although the method (3) effectively inhibits the formation of body odor, the antioxidants and antibacterial substances used therein in an amount sufficient to inhibit the formation of body odor may induce, for example, undesirable results on subject""s health such as stimulations and allergies to the skin of living bodies, when directly applied to the living bodies.
In view of the foregoing, the object of the present invention is to provide a means for effectively inhibiting body-odor at the formation stage of body odor and being used without less fear of affecting subject""s heath.
The present inventors started to study with the aim of establishing a means for solving the above object by using the saccharides and their related substances with revealed safety of application to humans and animals. They focused on the inhibitory effect of trehalose and maltitol on the formation of volatile aldehydes and the decomposition of fatty acids and continued studying the influence of the saccharides on the formation of volatile aldehydes known as the substances causative of body odor. As a result, the present inventors found that trehalose and maltitol particularly remarkably inhibit the formation of the substances causative of body odor including 2-nonenal in a system of acceleration test under heating conditions. They also confirmed that these saccharides also exert such an effect in a test system under the temperature conditions similarly as in human body. Based on a test using volunteers, the present inventors also found that trehalose and maltitol effectively inhibit the formation of substances causative of body odor including 2-nonenal from living human bodies. The present invention was made based on these findings.
The present invention solves the above object by a composition for inhibiting body odor (called xe2x80x9ca body-odor inhibitory agent, hereinafterxe2x80x9d) comprising trehalose and/or maltitol as an effective ingredient, a method for inhibiting body-odor using the agent, and an article incorporated with the agent.